Right DH is almost convinced about a homebirth so what do I need?

[devotion]

Hello

I am 21 weeks pregnant, had two not very pleasant hospital births - the midwives were lovely but I could just not relax and let go in the hospital room. both times the natural birthing centre section was full when i arrived so i had to go into the normal/usual side.

I had two natural births even though nothing felt natural about them

This time I want a more calmer and peaceful birth at home. I have been researching and practicing hypnobirthing. I actually learnt a few things for my last birth and was calm in control all the way up to 10cms but something went wrong and i lost my train of thought and teh pain hit me.

Plus the midwives were just too loud and although i know they were trying to help their comments were negative and made me nervous which in turn caused me more pain.

so i want a homebirth and be able to control the experience my way.

so what things do i need to have for it, i have a gp app next at 24 weeks but they never seem to know anything about childbirth, my mw app is 26 weeks so that s a few weeks away before i can ask all these questions.

thank you
x

[devotion]

sorry need to rephrase that.

gp's never seem to know much about homebirths with alternative pain relief such as hypnobirthing.

i was speaking to a newly trained midwife at my daughters school who did not have a clue about hypnobirthing.

surely alternative pain relief should be part of their training. especially with all the study that has gone into hypnobirthing and its success rate with reducing the need for interventions and c-sections.

its not like it new, its been around for years.

i never heard about it when pregnant with my first which is a shame, gp's and midwives should also tell mothers about it. they tell you about usual pain relief like its a menu in a restaurant for you to choose.

[lou4791]

Hi,

i'm presently 4 days over my due date and planning my first home birth. My partner was a bit nervous when i first suggested it, but is really happy about it now. Buying him the 'Fathers home birth handbook' helped.

With regards as to what you need, it varies from area to area, but very little really.
I've got a birth pool, a shower curtain, sorted out piles of old sheets and towels, an anglepoise lamp , snacks for me and midwives, and champagne in the fridge.Midwives will bring the rest when the time comes. The homebirth uk website is very good and can give you better information than I can though.

lou x

[MadameCastafiore]

A shower curtain - most of my friends had home births anbd swore by the effectiveness of a shower curtain!

[graciem]

hi devotion, i too am planning a homebirth and luckilly my sister is a mw and has explained what i will need so today i have jus bought a few bath towels and im going to buy a cheap duvet that i can jus throw away although i have been told that the mw will bring disposable pads like they use in hospital.and i think maybe something to cover the floor with. the mw will come and have a look at your home and discuss where u r thinking of having the baby eg bath/ pool, bed, sofa. she will tel u if you need to have additional lighting and snacks for yourself partner and mws. i think its as simple as that

[devotion]

Great - thanks everyone!

I am borrowing my friens birth pool so I need:
Shower curtain

1. Old towels - how many?
2. New towels - for baby? 2 enough?
3. Cheap duvet - is that for kneeling on?
4. Old sheets - is that for the same job as a shower curtain or do i just need one of either?
5. Anglepoise lamp
6. Snacks for everyone

I know you can not guess when it all kicks off but both of my other labours started about 10.30pm so if I do go into labour at that time I was thinking of leaving my children asleep in their beds and hoping I give birth before they wake which is usally about 8am. I guess I could call my sister and ask her to get to mine in the morning for 7am in case I'm still going to look after them.

I just really wanted to keep them here rather then the hassle of carting them off somewhere. Plus if it is going smoothly and they are awake then my oldest (6yrs) is very keen to watch the baby emerging.

She has watched quite a few water births with me on youtube - calm ones of course. She us very interested in them and does not find it scary at all, in fact she has asked if she can be in the pool and hold the babies head as he/she is coming out

I would love her to do that but of course I would only want her in the room if I was calm and not looking like I was in too much pain. Do not want to tramatise her.

I am so excited about it and I am only 21 weeks

After my last birth I was terrified of birthing again bit since getting into hypnobirthing my whole outlook on it has totally changed.

I just hope when I have my next app and tell my gp/mw that i want a homebirth that they will think I have no reason to and answer all my partners worries. If they agree its ok I will get that book that you suggested for him.

Thank you x

[graciem]

i think 2 towels for the baby is enough and the shower curtain is incase your waters break.

[Danthe4th]

I had a home birth with ds4 and the best piece of equipment was an old double duvet it covered the settee and floor where I gave birth and was rolled up and binned afterwards, it contained everything. The midwife brought the rest but I did buy some of the pampers mats to dot around the floor when I was leaking.

[detoxdiva]

Hi. I had a hb 12 ays ago and it was a fabulous experience...go for it.

To echo the other posts, all we needed was:

Old duvet to put under birth pool so it's soft to kneel on

2 large sheets of the thinner clear tarpaulin to cover floor.

Old towels to cover the tarpaulin

Pampers bed mats to shove under you if needed...I kept moving about and these were useful for covering cushions!

Plenty of hot water in the tank so the mw's can always wash their hands and you can have a shower after

Ipod with my music and hypnobirthing downloads on...very useful for early stages as it focuses you on the breathing techniques to manage the contractions

LOTS of tea bags and biscuits!! Dh also made himself useful by making the mw's bacon sarnies

All the best...it really is fab!

[RorysRacingMa]

Incontinence pads are about a third of the price of the Pampers bed mats ad do exactly the same job.

Everyone else has offered good advice. Go for it.

[swottybetty]

oooh, good luck it's so exciting isnt it? i had a home birth with dc2 in june and it was amazing. for the record, dh wasnt properly convinced til after. then it made me smile so much to hear him tell everyone in a quiet-proud way that we had homebirth after .

you don't really need anything. i spent months planning and had a whole box filled with birthing essentials that i didnt use. BUT half the fun of a homebirth is the list-making and nesting so here's my contribution.

i didnt use any old towels. i gave birth on bed with plastic dust sheet stuff underneath old sheet. we chucked old sheet after birth. however, i stayed in one place throughout first stage and waters didnt break til 4min before baby born so others may have messier experiences??

the other thing i would say that was invaluable was an aromatherapy mix i got from boots. like you i did a hypnosis cd (natal hypnotherapy which was ACE) and whenever i listened to it i would burn this oil mix (callled time to rebalance). during labout i had some on a flannel which i sniffed throughout each contraction. incredibly powerful.

re the snacks, i had a huge pile of biccies in hosue for MWs from 37 weeks. ds didnt come til 41plus six. during that time i must have got thru a pack a day. dont do it. i would rather my mws just had toast to snack on than i piled on that last stone

good good luck!